Youth transition to the labour market during employment mobility. Employment and inequality of young people in Europe

Abstract

Transition from study to work is considered as the end of youth. How do young people prepare to enter the labour market? What are the strategies young people utilise to become employed if it occurs in another country, as in the case of employment mobility? To answer these questions, the proposed article focuses on how young people move and enter the employment in other destination countries. Alongside with the literature on youth and transition we also observe that young people equally experience challenges of matching their skills in the destination countries. They relate to inequalities on the job market depending on their skills, their qualifications, the type of jobs, their working experiences, etc. The discussions in this paper thus first touch upon the topic of inequality with regard to the process of recruitment and becoming employed. Second, they draw attention to the inferior positioning that young people are prepared to put themselves into when entering the labour market for the first time and emphasise the fact that young people often experience discrimination and unequal treatment when they complete education and apply for jobs, on the grounds of being young and inexperienced. As a result, such a positioning often puts young people in a vulnerable situation, which they accept and endure as long as they are promised work. Furthermore, by focusing on how young people enter the labour market in the receiving country, the paper also explores strategies that young people apply for being employed, becoming integrated in the labour market, overcoming inequalities in employment and finding ways to cope with these challenges in the labour market, as well as their own social lives in the destination country.